As the East Coast braces for Hurricane Sandy merging with a nor’easter, Sprint Nextel Corp. is preparing its Network Disaster Recovery Staff and its Emergency Response Team. It also has closed dozens of stores in the affected area.

On Monday, the Overland Park-based wireless carrier (NYSE: S) said it’s monitoring the storm’s path and moving mobile generators into threatened areas, as well as offering public safety agencies free service for two weeks in places where a state of emergency has been declared. As of Monday morning, those places included Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, New York and Washington, D.C.

Sprint’s East Coast business also is affected. As of Sunday evening, Sprint said it would close 10 retail stores in Connecticut, two in Delaware, 10 in Massachusetts, 24 in New Jersey, 40 in New York and four in Rhode Island.

Sprint’s Emergency Response Team has a 24-hour hotline (ertrequests@sprint.com) that has helped in more than 1,250 emergency events since its 2002 inception. Sprint also has more than 25,000 short-term rental phones available to those in need, according to a release.

More information about Sprint’s preparation efforts for the coming storms is available online.